'If a tree falls down in the forest and there's no-one around to hear it, does it make a noise ?' As any fourth-form double-award science student will tell you, you hear by interpreting soundwaves, which are translated into electrical impulses sent to the brain by the apparatus within your ear. If no-one was around when the tree fell (or no creatures that could be said to hear, at least), then the vibrations of sound would still be created; it's just that there would be no receivers to pick them up. If someone phoned you when you weren't home (assuming they didn't leave a message), to claim that they didn't on account of your not having intercepted the transmission would quite rightly earn you a knee in the spine for being a conceited little twat. This was a question set by Zen monks to their initiates, apparently. If this is the case then it begs the question : 'If a tree falls down in the forest and crushes a Zen monk to the extent that his lungs come out of his nose, would anyone give a whistling orange fuck ?'

27.1.05 12:29 Permalink / 7 Comments / comment